


April fools

by AtLAstuff



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: April Fools, M/M, One Shot, Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 02:03:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtLAstuff/pseuds/AtLAstuff
Summary: Based onthis promptby imagine-your-otp on tumblr: On April Fool's Day, they both decide to fake being a couple for a day, and they even fake a kiss! At the end of the day, they realize it wasn't all that fake...





	April fools

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this literally months ago and was debating to ever post this but seeing as it is first of april now, I might as well right?

“Come on! It’ll be really funny!” Sokka whined again. 

 

Zuko wasn’t too sure of that though. All in all, this seemed like a rather bad plan. 

 

“No one is gonna believe us anyway!” He argued. “Really Sokka? A fake relationship? I don’t see any way that could work out well.” Especially not for himself. 

 

Sokka sighed, grabbed his arm and shook it a bit more. “Please, Zuko? Katara will lose her mind!” He pouted pleadingly, as if that was a good thing. 

 

It was a bad idea. A very terrible idea in fact. How can a pretend relationship with someone you’ve had a big fat crush on for months possibly go well? Even if it’s only for one day. 

 

Still, Zuko wasn’t very good at saying no to Sokka, but he tried anyway. “No! Find another fake boyfriend!”

 

“But it has to be you!” Sokka said.  _ Goddamnit Sokka.  _

 

“Why?” He asked, knowing he had basically given in by just asking that. Of course Sokka had a good reason, otherwise he wouldn’t ask. 

 

“Katara doesn’t like you all that much,” he smiled happily. 

 

“Wow, gee, thanks,” Zuko rolled his eyes. “You’re really selling this whole thing.” 

 

He just wanted to go home after a long day of class but no, they really had to have this conversation now, of all times. It was friday, and monday was april fools, so not only was this a bad plan, it was a bad last-minute plan at that. 

 

Sokka didn’t give up yet, because of course did he didn’t. “Come on, don’t you want to prank Katara?” 

 

He didn’t. Not really. Why would he? But Sokka just seemed so happy with the whole idea, and seemed to genuinely think it was the best plan he ever had, so despite himself, Zuko ended up saying, “alright,” while also rolling his eyes. 

 

It was a bad idea, he knew so too. But it was only for one day, what could possibly go wrong?

 

~~

 

“I have gathered you all here today-“

 

“What do you mean, gathered? It’s lunch break! We’re here every day at this hour!” Toph cut off Sokka, and Zuko used all the strength in his body to not roll his eyes. Was Sokka really going to be this dramatic about it? He’s just lowering the chances of them being actually believed this way. 

 

Too bad there’s no going back now. 

 

Sokka went on with his announcement anyways. “To tell you some big news,” he grinned bigly, and Zuko would be lying if he said this wasn’t one of the most beautiful smiles he’s ever seen.  _ This was such a dumb idea.  _

 

“What is it?” Katara asked, and Aang and Suki looked rather interested, but Toph looked more annoyed by Sokka’s stalling. 

 

Frankly, Zuko thought they were only going to prank Katara, not their whole friend group at the same time. There’s no way Toph would believe them. 

 

“You can say it!” Said Sokka suddenly towards the other boy.  _ Yea no, I don’t think so.  _ He doubted he’d get something like that out of his mouth without his voice cracking or sounding very unbelievable. Zuko is a good liar, sure, but this was about a ‘fake’ relationship with Sokka. This is on another level. 

 

“You say it,” he countered, trying his very best to not be annoyed. 

 

“Just say it-,” Suki started, but Toph cut her off first. 

 

“See, I told you they’re fucking!”

 

“Toph!” Katara reacted almost immediately, clearly sounding shocked, and Zuko almost chokes on his own spit.  _ What the fuck. _ Toph thinks they’re fucking! Was he really being that obvious with his big crush?

 

Sokka however didn’t seem too weirded out. 

 

“Well, yea I guess,” he said. “Thanks for ruining the surprise,  _ Toph.” _

 

“I-... yea makes sense,” Aang stammered.  _ Makes sense?  _ Did they really seem that couple-y? 

 

“Uh,” Zuko started, not actually knowing what to say, but being sure the more he says the more he makes this whole thing less believable, probably. 

 

Suki already started taking out her wallet, clearly sighing. “Really guys? You couldn’t wait another week?” She handed over the money to Toph who was smirking, and replying a small “thanks”. 

 

They were betting on them? Zuko started to regret all of his life choices more and more each minute. 

 

They didn’t seem to fully succeed in fooling Katara though, who in reality was the main person they wanted to fool. “Toph, give back Suki’s money,” she started. “I can’t believe you’re believing them. You know what day it is?” She asked the other three. There was a silence. 

 

Great, the plan hadn’t even worked. Katara actually owned a calender.  _ I thought is was gonna be funny, Sokka? _

 

“April fools?” Aang’s eyes widened after a while, and Suki let out a small gasp. “But it would explain so much!” He argued. 

 

Just as Zuko wanted to ask what exactly it explained, Sokka worked them even further into problems, because of course he did. 

 

“No, it’s real! I wasn’t even remotely aware it’s april already! Wow, time flies,” he tried sounding as believable as possible, almost making the other facepalm again. Couldn’t he at least try to keep his voice better under control? 

 

“Well, Zuko?” Suki looked him straight in the eye. Great, eye contact. That’s gonna make this whole situation better. 

 

“Uh, yes,” his voice came out a bit cracked. “We are,” suddenly, his plate of food on the table, which only had one piece of broccoli left on it, became a lot more interesting. The more he looked at it, the less appetizing the piece started looking. “A like, couple.” 

 

“That didn’t  _ sound  _ very believable,” Katara said sing-songy, grinning and crossing her arms and cocking an eyebrow, as if to say ‘ _ ha, I won! _ ’

 

Zuko guessed she technically did win. 

This is the last time he listened to Sokka, really. 

 

Toph reluctantly ended up adding, “that did  _ sound _ fake…” 

 

Aang, who at least seemed to trust them a bit, bless, said, “I don’t know, guys…”

 

For a second, he thought Sokka would just say,  _ ‘ha sorry, it was just a prank! Guess you are too smart for us! _ ’ Give in to it all and then this awkward nightmare could be over, but luck wasn’t on his side clearly. April fools is the worst holiday ever. 

 

“Don’t believe me? We’ll prove it!” Sokka then said at the spur of the moment, looking at Zuko, and mouthed a small, “okay?” 

 

He knew what that question meant, what Sokka’s plan was. Zuko could say no, he knew, and he didn’t even care about the prank at al, for fuck’s sakel. He  _ should _ say no. Kissing Sokka once and then never again is probably worse than never kissing him in the first place.  Especially in these circumstances, in front of their friends, as a prank, with Sokka’s sole motivation being said prank. 

 

And yet, he nodded, even while mentally scolding himself for it. 

 

The heat of Sokka’s hands was quickly felt on his cheek and on his waist, like he couldn’t wait a second longer to prove his point and the only thing he could do in return was place his hands somewhere on Sokka’s waist too, hoping it looked somewhat natural. It was an awkward position to begin with, with the two of them sitting like this. 

 

Zuko wasn’t an expert in kissing whatsoever which only made matters worse. Wasn’t he using Sokka like this? Using this stupid prank as a way to get kissed? But it wasn’t  _ his  _ plan, nor his idea to ‘prove’ them, Sokka brought this onto himself, right?

 

The feeling of regret and shame were gone quickly as soon as Sokka’s lips touched his, replacing it with butterflies in his stomach and making him melt straight away.  _ Fuck.  _

 

Katara let out a little gasp, because honestly, who does like seeing their siblings engage in any kind of romantical affection in the first place? And she didn’t think this was real whatsoever anyways.  _ Which it isn’t.  _

 

It was weird, having an audience of four of his friends, but that thought was gone quickly too because Sokka’s lips were just so soft and Zuko’s brain pretty much shortwired.  _ God this is unfair.  _

 

The prank was apparently really  _ really  _ important to Sokka, because he slowly deepened the kiss. Zuko could pull away if he didn’t want to do this anymore, he knew. But he didn’t. Sokka was the one initiating all of this either way. 

 

Stupidly, he made the mistake of giving full control to Sokka, who now tangled his fingers in Zuko’s hair, lightly pulling it, while also sticking his tongue in his mouth. Really Sokka? All of this for a stupid prank? 

 

Sokka should go into acting or something, because it certainly  _ felt _ real to Zuko, even when he very much knew it wasn’t. 

 

He almost let out a moan, which he luckily could just suppress in time. Either way, he could probably play it off as extra proof for their supposed relationship, but he wasn’t fully ready to give in that much just yet. 

 

Aang coughed. “Uhm, guys?” He said, sounding shocked and uncomfortable. 

 

Zuko, who perhaps had forgotten they were still in front of their friends in the first place, pulled back straight away in panic, his cheeks glowing. 

 

Katara looked downright shocked, and Suki clearly didn’t know how to react, at all. 

 

“Man, I’m glad I didn’t have to see that,” Toph said, letting out a breath of air. “Anyways, Suki, you can give me my money back, I won,” she held out her hand again, but Suki didn’t react straight away. 

 

“I really wished I hadn’t seen that,” Katara said, but Zuko could barely hear it. His heart was going at it at twice the speed, he could basically hear it beating in his ears, and he was about just as shocked as the rest of them. Not for the same reason, but nonetheless shocked. 

 

“Uhm, I think I believe you guys,” said Aang. “Not that I doubted you in the first place,” he threw a look at Katara, as if to say  _ well, you wouldn’t have seen it if you didn’t doubt them.  _

 

At this point, Zuko was scared she might would kill him. Katara didn’t necessarily  _ hate  _ him, but this probably was way too much. 

 

Sokka had been awfully quiet ever since the little scene they just put on, Zuko noted, but he couldn’t look in his direction. Not now. Not yet. Hopefully his friends would just think his awkwardness came from kissing in front of them and not from the fact that they weren’t a couple in the first place. 

 

“Uhm,” Sokka stammered. “So like… yea,” was all he brought out. If the other weren’t so shocked by this whole thing, and if the kiss didn’t look so real there was no way they’d ever believe Sokka now with all the stammering.

 

“That’s,” Katara began, clearly not knowing how to finish the sentence. 

 

“Well, I’m glad for you guys,” Suki finally said while putting on a smile, “and I’m glad you worked things out!” She threw a thumbs-up towards Sokka, who was also very much bright red. 

 

Slightly confused about what exactly they had supposedly worked out, Zuko tilted his head a bit. 

 

“Me too,” Aang agreed. “I uh, am going to class now,” he vaguely pointed towards the building and took his backpack in one hand, Suki and Katara quickly following, nodding and saying, “yea, same.” 

 

“Well, thank you for the money!” Toph said towards them, before also grabbing her backpack and leaving too. 

 

Being alone after something like this was more awkward than Zuko had anticipated. “Uh,” he started. They should talk about this, at least a  _ “so when do we tell them this was all fake?” _ or something like that, but Sokka didn’t seem too keen on that. 

 

“I’m going to class! See you after school!” His voice came out panicky. 

 

Great, Zuko thought. Now he had probably chased away Sokka with his bad kissing techniques or something. He innerly groaned, dropping his head to the table. 

 

The prank hadn’t even been funny. 

 

~~

 

“Hi,” Sokka said sheepishly when he got in the car. They always drove home together, Zuko dropping him off as it was on his way anyways. Sometimes Katara would drive with them too, but most days she had other activities after school. 

 

For one of the first times ever, Zuko was sad Katara wasn’t with them. This whole thing would get awkward, he knew it. All day, the feeling of Sokka’s lips on his had been lingering on his mind. 

 

“Hi,” he replied, turning the keys. Soft music instantly filled up the silence in the car as he drove away.   

  
  


“Uh, when-,”

 

“About today-,” 

 

They said in unison. 

 

“You go first,” Zuko tried. Frankly, he didn’t want to bring it up anyway, and a tiny piece of him hoped Sokka would start talking about something completely unrelated. 

 

“No, you can go first,” Sokka still sounded somewhat panicky. This wasn’t gonna be about something different at all. 

 

“Sokka, go first,” he firmly said. This wasn’t the time for an infinite  _ ‘no, you!’ _

 

“Alright,” the other shifted on his seat and stayed silent for a couple more seconds. “About today-...”

 

“Yes?” He concentrated on the road. Why was the drive home so long? Granted, they had only just left and most days Zuko would hope for it to even last longer, but still. 

 

“Please don’t hate me,” Sokka started. 

 

Zuko almost snorted. As if. “Go on,” he simply said. 

 

“I uh,” he stammered again. Come on Sokka, just spit it out! “That was like,” he started, vaguely waving his hands from what Zuko could see in the corner of his eye. “A good kiss?” It came out like a question rather than a statement. 

 

“Thanks?” Was Sokka really that surprised by Zuko’s kissing skills? Is it normal for one friend to tell another friend that? Stupid april fools. 

 

“I wouldn’t mind,” Sokka took a deep breath. “Like, maybe doing that again sometimes?”

 

Zuko almost slammed on the break out of shock, but at least he had enough control over himself to not do that. 

 

“I’m sorry, what?” Having these kind of conversations in a car perhaps isn’t a good idea. 

 

“I knew this was a bad idea!” Sokka almost shouted, more to himself than to Zuko. “No, nevermind, it’s nothing,” he sulked. 

 

“Relax, I’m just asking you to repeat it,” he tried. “I didn’t like, say no or something,” as if he could ever say no. 

 

“Wait really?” Sokka’s voice sounded full of disbelieve. 

 

Only now the whole thing started clicking in his mind. Kind of. 

 

“Sokka,” Zuko sighed. “Just repeat what you just said.” Just to be sure. 

 

“Do you maybe like,” pause. “Want do go out some time? With me?”

 

He blinked a couple of times, still focussing on the road as good as he possibly could. Sokka really shouldn’t be asking him these types of questions while driving, to be honest.  

 

“I-,” he started. Obviously he wanted to. He didn’t say it straight away though. “Was this your plan from the beginning?” He side-eyes him for a second, mentally facepalming himself.  _ Sokka  _ was asking him out and he was really gonna be this vague about it all? 

 

Sokka groaned. “No!” He shook his head, burying it in his hands. “I mean,” he went on. “Not intentionally! But I’ve been thinking about it and- I just-,”

 

“I’d love to,” Zuko grinned then. 

 

“Uhm,” Sokka said shocked, as if that wasn’t what he had been expecting whatsoever. Maybe Zuko really was better at hiding his crush than he thought. Or Sokka was just extremely dense. “I’d like, kiss you or something, but, you know, you’re driving and all,” he vaguely motioned, trying to sound somewhat cool, as if the both of them didn’t hear his voice getting a pitch higher just now. 

 

Zuko could feel his own cheeks getting red, but answered, “well, we’ll make it up when I drop you off,” with a smirk anyways. 

 

“Wait,” Sokka sounded confident again. “ _ You _ sound rather eager about all of this! Maybe  _ you  _ were using this whole situation!”

 

Okay, now Zuko’s cheeks were definitely red. “I- no- I just- the prank,” he stammered. Oh how the tables have turned. Zuko really should’ve just simply said yes and nothing more. Teasing clearly was not his forté. 

 

Sokka laughed with his whole chest though. “Zuko, it’s fine, you don’t have to get do defensive about it!” He laughed. “After all, I’m glad you said yes.”

 

Maybe april fools was his new favourite holiday. 


End file.
